James Conder
Graduate Program Coordinator
Dr. Conder is currently the Director of the School of Earth Systems and Sustainability. His scientific expertise is in seismology and geodynamic computer modeling to explore tectonic behavior of the the Earth's plates and underlying mantle. He has had projects in North America, South America, Antarctica, and the South Pacific primarily publishing on mid-ocean ridge, subduction zone, and intraplate processes.
Teaching
- GEOL 121 Natural Hazards and Catastrophes
- GEOL 435 Solid-Earth Geophysics
- GEOL 466 Tectonics
- GEOL 535 Numerical Methods in the Earth Sciences
- GEOL 536 Earthquake Seismology
Education
- B.S. 1994, University of Utah
- Sc.M. 1998, Brown University
- Ph.D. 2001, Brown University
Research Interests
1)Mantle flow and melt generation
My primary research interests address questions regarding processes of mantle flow and melt generation and migration at mid-ocean ridges and subduction zones. This often entails combining geodynamic models and seismic observations or other methods of geophysical imaging of the upper mantle.
2) Neotectonics
I am also interested in addressing questions of active deformation of the Earth’s surface, primarily through use of microseismicity. Currently, my student, Karen Godfrey, is using recently collected seismic data in the Lau Basin from the LScan experiment to examine microseismicity near the hydrothermal sites along the Eastern Lau Spreading Center.
Selected Recent Publications
Wiens, D. A., J. A. Conder, and U. Faul, 2008, The seismic structure and dynamics of the mantle wedge, Annual Review of Earth and Planetary Sciences, 36, 421-55, doi:10.1146/annurev.earth.33.092203.122633.
Conder, J. A., and D. A. Wiens, 2007, Rapid along-strike asthenosphere flow beneath the Tonga volcanic arc, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 264, 299-307.
Conder, J. A., 2007, Dynamically driven mantle flow and shear wave splitting asymmetry across the EPR, MELT area, Geophysical Research Letters, 34, L16301, doi:10.1029/2007GL030832.
Pozgay, S. H., D. A. Wiens, J. A. Conder, H. Shiobara, and H. Sugioka, 2007, Complex mantle flow in the Mariana subduction system: Evidence from shear wave splitting, Geophysical Journal International, 170, 371-386, doi:10.1111/j.1365-246X.2007.03433.
Conder, J. A., and D. A. Wiens, 2006, Seismic structure beneath the Tonga arc and Lau back-arc basin determined from joint Vp, Vp/Vs tomography, Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, 7, Q03018, doi:10.1029/2005GC001113.
Wiens, D. A., N. Seama, and J. A. Conder, 2006, Mantle Structure and Flow Patterns Beneath Active Back-Arc Basins Inferred from Passive Seismic and Electromagnetic Methods, in Back-Arc Spreading Systems- Geological, Biological, Chemical, and Physical Interactions, AGU Monograph, Vol. 166.
Conder, J. A., 2005, A case for hot slab surface temperatures in numerical viscous flow models of subduction zones with a new fault zone parameterization, Physics of the Earth and Planetary Interiors, 149, 155-164.
Conder, J. A., D. A. Wiens, and J. Morris, 2002, On the decompression melting structure at volcanic arcs and back-arc spreading centers, Geophysical Research Letters, 29, doi:2002GL015390.
Conder, J. A., D. W. Forsyth, and E. M. Parmentier, 2002, Asthenospheric flow and the asymmetry of the East Pacific Rise, MELT area, Journal of Geophysical Research, 107, 2344, doi:10.1029/2001JB000807.
Toomey, D. R., W. S. D. Wilcock, J. A. Conder, D. W. Forsyth, J. Blundy, E. M. Parmentier, and W. C. Hammond, 2002, Asymmetric mantle dynamics in the MELT region of the East Pacific Rise, Earth and Planetary Science Letters, 200, 287-295.